Rhett Lashlee displeased: Auburn offense 'didn't execute worth a crap'

• Lowest points%2C total yards in Malzahn era doesn%27t sit well with offensive coordinator

AUBURN – The end result was positive but other than a notch in the win column, a great play on third-and-9 to seal the victory and the mental toughness to get through adversity, the overall picture for the Auburn offense didn't sit well with Rhett Lashlee

Auburn's offensive coordinator wasn't happy with just about anything he saw watching the tape of the Tigers' offense perform in its 20-14 win over Kansas State.

Lashlee said the offense "didn't execute worth a crap," as Auburn was held to its lowest production in both total yards (359) and points in Gus Malzahn's 17 games as coach.

"Overall, I wasn't very pleased at all with anything," Lashlee said. "I did not think we played well. Give them a lot of credit. They had a lot to do with it. They played a very solid, disciplined game plan. They are very well-coached. They are tough and they play hard. They did everything we thought and more. It's a great environment they have there. That's a really good football team, and it was a great test for us. But, we didn't play Auburn football, really at any position.

"We had a lot of poorly executed plays. We didn't have many plays where all 11 guys did what they were supposed to do. In the run game, in the pass game, in pass protection, you name it, it was not our best effort. Fortunately for us, it was not our best effort in a game our defense played great, and we were able to find a way to win. Overall, I was not pleased."

Auburn's vaunting rushing attack was held in check by an equally as touted Kansas State defense, which held 10 of its prior 11 opponents to under 150 yards rushing. Auburn was no different, finishing with 128 yards and no scores on the ground in the second-lowest total since Malzahn took over.

"They were filling gaps quick," Malzahn said. "They were daring us to throw it, and I was probably a little bit stubborn a few times, but then I think they did a good job of tipping some balls. We had some guys open, and they did a good job of getting hands on some balls in the throwing lanes."

Nick Marshall was 17-for-31 for 231 yards with two touchdowns and an interception and added 46 yards rushing. Lashlee said Marshall played "fairly well" but the passing game need to execute better in all areas.

"There were a couple of throws early that we've just got to make," Lashlee said. "We missed an easy hitch throw early and a couple of plays like that, but at the same time he made some big-time throws when we needed them. We had way too many drops. His decision-making was good. We just have to be better all around in the passing game. That was disappointing, but the positive thing was our guys made plays when they needed to."

Lashlee said the issues were "a lot of little things" that end up making big impacts on each play, from blocking techniques to route running to catches.

"I'm not concerned from a standpoint of we can't fix things," Lashlee said. "Everything that we saw on film is correctable, it's just not characteristic of our guys. Going all the way back to last year and even this year, we haven't had a game where we felt like we did a lot of uncharacteristic things.

Lashlee compared the overall evaluation to that of the game against Mississippi State last season. Auburn was held to 120 yards rushing in that game, which is the lowest in Malzahn's tenure, though the zone read was not a major part of the offense at the time,

The offensive coordinator was at a loss for answers as to why the Tigers didn't perform better.

"I don't know," Lashlee said. "We've all looked at ourselves, from myself to our coaches. We've got to make sure we don't take anything for granted or let anything slide. We prepared hard like we always do. The guys were ready to play, and they played hard. We just didn't play well.'"

Auburn opened the game 0-for-5 on third-down conversions, but recovered to finish 10-for-18, including the critical 39-yard pass from Marshall to D'haquille Williams on third-and-nine from Auburn's 37-yard line with 2:06 to go.

"The one thing I thought we did well was when we needed to respond, I thought we did. I thought we learned more about our team probably than if we had gone out and played great and won going away," Lashlee said. "Those are some of the positives. Good teams win when they're not at their best."